SAP Business Partners

SAP S/4 HANA and CRM
SAP Business Partner – Here you get an insight into the concept of business partners / business partners. At the latest with the changeover to SAP S/4 HANA, consultants and users have to familiarize themselves with this. This new concept changes customizing and transactions for the central master data.

SAP Business Partners – Evolution

Previously optional, from S/4 mandatory

In previous SAP ERP systems, the use of SAP Business Partner was optional. This had to be used only in SAP CRM. Business partners in SAP ERP are primarily divided into customers (customers) and vendors (vendors). The strict separation is somewhat inflexible, as a business partner can be both a customer and a supplier. That’s why we find basic data such as name, address, tax number and bank details in the Business Partner. These can be the same for both “roles”. And here is the key word: role. Depending on the assigned role, the business partner can be used as a supplier and/or as a customer. So: a business partner we assigned different roles. Practical!

SAP Business Partner Concept – Background

In the conventional ERP system, the data model contains redundant information. This is where the vendor master and the customer master are used. The mandatory target approach in SAP S/4 HANA is the business partner approach.

With business partners, you are now able to centrally manage master data for business partners, customers, and vendors. With current development, BP is the central entry point for creating, editing, and displaying master data for business partners.

Benefits of business partners

The SAP S/4 HANA thus offers numerous new possibilities for managing business partner data.

As already learned, in SAP S/4 HANA, the business partner is the leading object. It is the central entry point for the management of master data of business partners, customers and suppliers. Compared to classic ERP transactions, maintaining customer and supplier master data through business partners has several advantages.

For classic transactions, a customer or vendor can only be assigned to one account group. Business partners can be assigned multiple roles to the same business partner.
General data is available for different business partner roles, and specific data is stored for each role.
Maintaining multiple relationships with the same business partner.

Important transactions for maintaining SAP business partners in s4

SAP S/4HANA is SAP’s next-generation business suite designed to run on the SAP HANA platform. Sie enthält eine Reihe neuer Funktionen und Verbesserungen gegenüber früheren SAP-Versionen, einschließlich neuer Transaktionscodes für die Verwaltung von Geschäftspartnern. Here are some important transactions in SAP S/4HANA that are used to maintain business partner master data:

BP – Dieser Transaktionscode kann verwendet werden, um allgemeine Geschäftspartnerinformationen anzulegen und zu pflegen, er ist im S/4HANA-System verfügbar und ermöglicht die Verwaltung von Kunden und Lieferanten

BUP1 – Geschäftspartner anlegen

BUP2 – Change Business Partner

BUP3 – Geschäftspartner anzeigen

BUPT – Bereichsmenü für Anwendungsaufrufe zum Geschäftspartner, Einstellungen und Customizing

Dies sind einige der wichtigen Transaktionen zur Pflege von Geschäftspartner-Stammdaten in SAP S/4HANA. However, it is important to note that the specific transactions that are used depend on the specific business processes and requirements of your organization. You should also consult your implementation guide for specific information about the functionalities, as S/4HANA may have different characteristics than other SAP versions.

All beginnings are difficult – FAQ SAP Business Partners

Create SAP Business Partners

Often you don’t know where to start. Let’s just start with how to start with clean data in our new S/4 system.

SAP Business Partner Transaction

Question: What are the most important transactions for business partners?

Answer: The user interface for SAP S/4HANA is transaction BP. There is no specific user interface for customers/suppliers as known from SAP Business Suite.

Question: How do you navigate to your business partner?

Answer: Start transaction BP.

Question: Which roles are required for a business partner customer base?

Answer: The base role should be a business partner with the role 000000. For a customer, the roles FLCU00 Accounting and FLCU01 Sales are required. CU stands for Customer.

Question: Which roles are required for a business partner – supplier master?

Answer: For a customer, the roles FLVN00 Accounting and FLVN01 Purchasing are required. VN stands for Vendor.

Business partner Customizing and data transfer

Question: How do we get from the old world of ECC into the new world of business partners?

Answer: Only SAP Business Suite customers with customer-supplier integration can switch to SAP S/4HANA, on-premise. This approach is the so-called conversion approach. It is recommended that Business Partner ID and Customer ID/Vendor ID are the same.

Question: Should the Business Partner ID and the customer number/supplier number be identical in the S/4HANA system?

Answer: In principle, yes. The key for a smooth synchronization of the ERP customer/supplier into the SAP S/4HANA system with the business partners requires consistent customer and supplier data. For this reason, the data must be cleaned up before it is converted to business partners in SAP S/4HANA.

Question: Are there any tools for the takeover?

Answer: SAP has developed the Cockpit CVI for this purpose. The cockpit provides a platform for all conversion activities.